NATURE 



77 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1873 



DR. MEYER'S EXPEDITION TO NEIV GUINEA 



BEFORE giving to the readers of Nature a brief 

 account of my own voyage to New Guinea, from 

 which island I have just returned, I shall say a few words 

 about some other expeditions to this -'far-east" and inter- 

 esting island, undertaken within the last two years by 

 various governments and private individuals. 



In 1 87 1 the Dutch Government sent out a steamer 

 and specially appointed officials, to circumnavigate the 

 entire island of New Guinea, land from time to time, and 

 take formal possession of those parts of the country which 

 did not yet belong to the Dutch. It is known that this 

 nation has hitherto had only a certain rightover the western 

 part of New Guinea as far as 141° E. ; and before going 

 farther the e.xpedition had to erect sign-posts in the name 

 of the Dutch Government at different parts of western 

 New Guinea. But this first expedition did not attain 

 its end ; a few posts were set on the north coast, the 

 farthest east being on Humboldt Bay, on the frontier of 

 the Dutch territory ; the expedition tried to go still far- 

 ther cast, but was obliged to return in a very bad condi- 

 tion, without having fulfilled its task. 



In 1872 the Dutch sent out a second expedition in a 

 small steamer for the same purpose ; but this one did not 

 succeed in going even so far east as the first, and was like- 

 wise obliged to return, after a very short time, without 

 any result. 



It is now proposed to try another expedition on a larger 

 scale in 1874, which will go first through Torres Strait to 

 the east, and afterwards, along the north coast, to the west ; 

 but I am not sure that this plan will be carried out. 



In 1870 some Italians, under the guidance of 

 M. Cerruti, who had been several times in New Guinea 

 before (1S61, 1S65, and 1866), visited in a little schooner 

 a part of the south-west coast, for the purpose of looking 

 out for a convict settlement for their Government, and 

 explored chiefly the straits between the island of Salwatty 

 and the mainland. They were attacked in MacCluer 

 Gulf, and the combat that took place was much spoken 

 of in Dutch India during my sojourn there. 



In 1S72 two Italian naturalists, M. Beccari and M. 

 d'Albertis, endeavoured to visit the mainland of New 

 Guinea at a place on the south-west coast, called Utanate, 

 which had been previously visited by the Dutch ; but they 

 could not reach it, on account of currents and winds. 

 They remained for some time longer to the westward of 

 the south-west coast and at Sorong, between the island of 

 Salwatty and the mainland (where in the beginning of 1 873 

 eighteen Europeans from an Australian pearlfisher were 

 murdered by the Papooas *), then proceeded to Dorey, in 

 the north, and made a station on the Arfak Mountains. 

 They returned in November 1872, an Italian man-of-war 

 being sent by their Government to look after them. 



During the same time a Russian traveller, Mr. Maclay, 

 had been on the north-west coast of New Guinea, in 

 Astrolabe Bay. He was brought thither, and fetched 

 away after more than a year's stay, by a Russian man- 



* I write Papooas, and not Papuas, because the Malays pronounce the 

 word *' Papooa,"andnot "Papua." 



Vol. IX. — No. 214 



of-war ; his plan to cross the mainland of New Guinea in 

 any direction could not be effected, as was to be foreseen 

 by those who know something about the special difficulties 

 of travelling in New Guinea. He only moved about the 

 district extending some miles round his station. Before 

 I started on my expedition I met, in the beginning of this 

 year, in Ternate (Molukkas Islands), the Russian man-of- 

 war, coming back from New Guinea. Although she had 

 only stayed in Astrolabe Bay for five days to take in 

 water and wood, still, two months later, more than eighty 

 of the ship's officers and crew were attacked by fever. 



Finally, the news which reached Europe from Australia 

 in respect to New Guinea, and which had already in 1871 

 made the Dutch send a man-of-war round that continent, 

 to inspect how far the plans of the " New Guinea Pros- 

 pecting Association " were ripening, this news, as well 

 as the end of the expedition of this Association in 1872, arc 

 better known in England than the other undertakings 

 which 1 have roughly sketched above. 



The proposed and partly effected settlement of mission- 

 aries of the London Missionary Society on the islands 

 of Torres Strait, and that proposed to be made on the south 

 coast of New Guinea itself, are likewise known. 



Whether the news, published in an Australian paper, 

 that the English had taken possession of the extreme 

 south-east shore of New Guinea, be true or not, I am not 

 able to say. But from what has been said it may be 

 concluded that the eyes of civilised nations are now 

 fixed more on New Guinea than ever, and that results 

 will be sure to follow. What these results may be, 

 and what prospects all these exertions may present 

 in respect to the character of the country and its inhabi- 

 tants, I will not take into consideration now, but proceed 

 to a sketch of my own voyage. 



On my previous travels, which went as far as the 

 Island of Celebes and the Philippine Islands, I had 

 gathered sufficient information to know which would be the 

 easiest way to reach New Guinea, and how to find the best 

 place for a station. I was aware of the impossibility of 

 penetrating into the interior of the larger part of this 

 large continent, if my expedition were not of much 

 larger dimensions, and if it could not command much 

 ampler means than are available to a private person 

 like myself, and chiefly if it would not lose its character 

 of a natural history expedition, and become solely a geo- 

 graphical e.\ploration. On another occasion I shall show 

 how such a geographical e.xpedition through New Guinea 

 could be started by one individual or by a company of 

 travellers, and to what parts it would be most advanta- 

 geous to proceed at first. The peculiarities of the country 

 and the natives are such, that there are even more 

 difficulties for travellers here than there are in Australia, 

 where the best-fitted-out expeditions and the most able 

 and courageous men have failed. In New Guinea it is 

 even a question, whether the scientific or practical results 

 are likely to be at all equal to the expenditure and the 

 great danger connected with such an undertaking. 



Being obliged, therefore, to resign the eastern and 

 larger half of the island, I had to choose for a start- 

 ing-point only between the south-west coast, fro 11 oppo- 

 site the Aru Islands to Salwatty, and the coasts of 

 Geelvinks Bay. I preferred the latter, for several strong 

 reasons which weighed against the south-west coast, and 



